Get a close-up look at the world of insects with a delightfully illustrated guide to the fascinating insects, bugs, arachnids, and other creatures that populate our planet by the billions.
Millions of species of insects fly, crawl, dig, swarm, and eat on every continent. Our very existence depends on them; without pollinators, we would have no food, and without decomposers, the world would be covered in decaying plant and animal material. With her signature style, Julia Rothman delves into this incredible world, uncovering amazing facts about bees, beetles, butterflies, and so much more.
Table of Contents:
Outline for Insect Anatomy
Chapter 1: Bugging Out
What is an arthropod? / Page of statistics (include difference between insect/bug/others)
Arthropod family tree / classification
Timeline of Bugs / Escaping Extinction
Parts of an Insect / Interior anatomy
Kinds of Wings / flight patterns
Kinds of eyes
How bugs hear
Ways of eating (2 spreads)
What bugs eat / eating toxins
Legs and walking
Sense of touch / antennae
Actual sizes
Where bugs live
One acacia tree
Colors
About beetles
Importance of bugs to ecosystem
Sample ecosystem disrupted
Climate change
Chapter 2: Way of Life
Simple growth / incomplete metamorphosis
Bug eggs / shedding bugs
Larvae vs adult
Butterflies (3 spreads)
Monarchs' journey
Moth vs butterfly
Moths (2 spreads)
Silkworm
Chapter 3: Community Building
Anatomy of an ant / ant jobs
Ant species / facts
Leaf cutter ants
Anatomy of a bee / kinds of bees
Bee facts
How a hive works
Wasps
Wasp nests
Termites / termite mounds
Decomposers
Chapter 4: Buzzworthy Features
Camouflage (2 spreads)
Bugs with faces/eyespots
Mimicking / playing dead
Stingers
Venom
Armor
Anatomy of a grasshopper / big jumpers
Walking on water / extreme temperature adaptations
Smells
Chapter 5: Social Butterflies (communication)
Body language and poses
Noisy bugs
Pheromones
Fireflies
Courtship dances / gift giving
Mating
Chapter 6: Superlatives
Weirdest (2 spreads)
Most colorful (2 spreads)
Largest (2 spreads)
Smallest / fastest
Longest lived / cicadas
Shortest lived
Strongest / loudest
Longest migration
Chapter 7: Not Bugs Insects but Close
Intro / parts of a spider
Spider facts
Spider webs
Centipede and millepede
Worms
Slugs / snails
Chapter 8: Humans and Bugs
People Eat Bugs
Indoor insect pests around the world
Outdoor insect pests / garden beneficials (2 spreads)
Making dye / candy coating
Fruit fly research / maggots for wound healing
Silkworm to your shirt
Bugs that Bite People
Critically endangered
Insect fossils
Scientists studying bugs (2 spreads)
Ways to attract butterflies
Go on a bug hunt
9 things you can do to help insects
SAMPLE TEXT
An insect has three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), six legs, and typically wings.
Spiders have just two body parts, plus fangs, as well as spinnerets for spinning threads for webs and cocoons. Also, they have 8 legs.
A "true bug" is a small insect that has sucking mouthparts and forewings and undergoes incomplete metamorphosis.
People Eating Bugs
It's been estimated that people ingest nearly two pounds of bugs every year without knowing it. On the other hand, many bugs are safe to eat and even provide lots of nutrients. In fact, Europe and North America are among the only places where bug-eating is not common practice.
Some types of bugs that are regularly (and purposefully) consumed by humans around the world include ants, beetles, caterpillars, centipedes, cicadas, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, earthworms, grasshoppers, June bugs, locusts, mealworms, midge flies, pillbugs, scorpions, stink bugs, tarantulas, termites, walking sticks, and wasps.
Lemon Ants - In China, boiled ants make a delicious soup. In the Amazon, people simply scrape the ants from a tree and crush them on their teeth.
Grasshoppers (also known as Chapulines) are common fare in Oaxaca. They're often eaten as snacks, or crushed and sprinkled on top of dishes to enhance the flavor.
Julia Rothman is an illustrator, pattern designer, and author. Her illustrated column, Scratch, is featured biweekly in the Business section of the New York Times Sunday edition. In addition to working for clients such as City Target, the Washington Post, and MTA Arts & Design, she has her own lines of wallpaper, stationery, fabric, and dishware. Rothman has authored, coauthored, and illustrated twelve books including Ocean Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, Nature Anatomy Notebook, Food Anatomy, and Farm Anatomy. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Michael Hearst is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer, whose projects are characterized by a fascination with extremely specific themes. His most recent project is a four-part book series that includes Unusual Creatures, Extraordinary People, Curious Constructions, and Unconventional Vehicles. Each book includes a companion album, and Unusual Creatures was also made into a PBS Digital series. Hearst is also a founding member of the band One Ring Zero and has performed and given lectures and workshops at universities, museums, and cultural centers around the world. He has toured with The Magnetic Fields, performed with The Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, and appeared on such shows as NPR's Fresh Air, A+E's Breakfast With The Arts, and NBC's The Today Show.
Storey Publishing
Pub Date: September 2, 2025
0.59" H x 9.0" L x 6.5" W
208 pages
paperback